Unbreakable
by Peter the Otaku
Summary: When 17 year old Chloe, an undetermined camper, is suddenly claimed after having strange visions and a run in with Nico during a game of Capture the Flag, she is given five days to complete a quest, and stop World War III from breaking out. On Hiatus.
1. Games

**Discalimer :** I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians much to my dismay. For if I did unspeakable things would happen that are best not mentioned here but let it be know that is was definitely the fault of the Stoll brothers and I had nothing to do with it. Rachel Elizabeth Dare is my witness.

YAY!~ I finally pubished something after almost... uhhh two years (Give or take) of being idle and not posting anything. And it's about NICO! The little twerp *cough* I mean... Nerd...wait... The guy just needs some love. Who says children of Hades have to be emo kids? Not me!~ Hope you enjoy!

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><p>Chapter 1<p>

Over the course of my many years at Camp Half-blood Chloe had made a list of way in which she would not want to be woken up while at camp. She would never again want to wake up to the Stoll brothers snickering about something while sitting next to her bed, nor would she want to be woken by a herd of 'Party Ponies' which was the direct result of Connor and Travis's snickering in case you were wondering. However her least favorite way to wake up was with a screeching harpy less than an inch from her face. Sadly she tended to wake up this way more often than not, she supposed she should stop sneaking out of her cabin and falling asleep on the Big House roof.

It was another usual night when she was woken once again by this particular method, she had gone to the roof of the Big House to star gaze and had fallen asleep only to have one of the cleaning Harpies find her during the midnight rounds. Chloe cried out in surprise loudly when she was woken with the Harpy close to her face and jumped backwards to get some space but this only resulted with a nasty bump to her head courtesy of the Big House chimney which was behind her. At least she hadn't fallen off of the roof again.

Now Harpies aren't the most pleasant creatures to wake up to in the middle of the night. They were ugly creatures that looked like a mix between an old lady and a giant chicken. Their humanoid faces were wrinkled with sun spots everywhere and their scraggly black hair was always tied back and in a hairnet. Their arms were almost human, if not for the feathers protruding from them, and they had fat feathered bodies with wicked sharp talon's feet. Not to mention that their voices are possibly the most insufferable sounds on the entire planet. No, she really wasn't fond of these creatures.

"I'm going I'm going." she mumbled as she rubbed the now sore spot on the back of her head. It wasn't bleeding or anything like that, but a nasty bump had already formed. The Harpy was glaring at Chloe with her beady eyes but left, flapping her arms awkwardly as she descended from the roof more gracefully than a chicken lady should have been able to. She watched the creature disappear then looked around her. It had to be past midnight and the camp seemed virtually silent save for the occasional noise from some monster that lived in the woods nearby or the chirping of crickets.

Chloe was very sorely tempted to just lie back down and go back to sleep, but she knew that the Harpy would be back to make sure she had gone back to her cabin. The young Demigod stifled a yawn as she climbed off of the Big House; or more like jumped off the edge, landing in a crouching position. She had always hated how sleepy she felt after being abruptly woken, especially when her sleep had been uninterrupted by the prophetic dreams that usually plagued half-bloods. Even so she headed back to the Hermes cabin as quickly as she could lest the Harpies find her again.

Even though Chloe was a member of the Hermes cabin she was not actually a daughter of the god of thieves. She was the only camper who had not been claimed in the years since Percy Jackson had made the gods vow to claim all of their children. She hadn't really been expecting to be claimed anyway; she's spent almost her whole life at the camp. She'd been brought here when she was three from an orphanage where she had been found by an old satyr who had since retired from his days as a protector. The old goat had brought Chloe to Chiron to raise as a proper half-blood fighter, because even at the age of three monsters were able to smell her out from miles away. How she had managed to survive until she was found was a complete mystery. But now she was at camp, still an orphan and still unclaimed. She didn't even have an idea as to who her mortal parent could be, or even if she had a mortal parent.

Chloe entered the Hermes cabin quietly, lest she wake any of the troublemakers that slept peacefully in the numerous bunks around the cabin. It wasn't exactly a wise decision to wake a child of Hermes unless you really wanted to end up with a giant scorpion in your bunk. So Chloe went about getting herself ready for bed as quietly as she could then crawled into her bed and curled up under the blankets to drift into a sleep she had a feeling wouldn't be very resting.

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><p><em>Chloe gasped as she fell to the ground, rolling to lessen impact and avoid crushing the detailed gazelle horn bow in her hands. She looked behind her frantically as she pulled herself up onto her knees she couldn't see much in the dark area she was in but the sound of something slithering towards her caused her skin to crawl and enforced her feeling of urgency to escape this place. <em>

"_Chloe come on!" A voice somewhere ahead of her called and she turned her head to look at a figure some feet ahead of her that was motioning for her to get up and follow. She couldn't see him very well because of the poor light but she knew he was a friend. _

_Scrambling to her feet she unstrung her bow as she began running and fluidly put it in the quiver of arrows on her back. Arrows would do her no good here, they'd already tried to fight their way out and it hadn't worked the first two times. _

"_Where are we going?" Chloe asked between gasps for air as she caught up with the boy who had been ahead of her. She didn't bother slowing to glance at him. She knew without looking that he was keeping pace with her. "Don't tell me you know your way around here." _

"_We have to find Harmony and get out of here before that crazed snake finds us. I'm just hoping we'll find a dungeon as we run." He replied as he abruptly rounded a corner. He grabbed her arm and pulled her along with him before she ran past and she almost tripped again as she was pulled through a door that was closed quickly behind her. _

_The room was significantly lighter than the dark hallway in which they had been running and she chanced a glance beside her to her companion as he caught his breath. His back was turned to her so all she really saw was the back of his jacket but the fact that he was there was still a relief. In the dark one could never really be sure who was with them, especially in a place like this. _

"_Think we can hide out here for a while?" She asked after she had caught her breath. She leaned against the door behind her and looked around the room. It was exotic looking, like they were in an indoor jungle. Palm trees and ferns were everywhere and she even thought she saw a few coconuts on the ground. _

"_Uh... maybe not." _

_Chloe looked over at her companion and noticed the tense posture of his shoulders as he looked at something ahead of him. It didn't take the girl long to notice what had his attention because she saw it just as she heard a menacing hiss come from the large black mass that rested on the floor several meters away from the two demigods. _

"_Please don't tell me that's another snake!" Chloe groaned even as the mass began moving. _

_The hissing became louder as the small black mountain moved and after a moment the head of the serpent became visible. It was the head of an enormous black king cobra, hood open and looking at the two demigods as if they were lunch. The cobra's head swayed back and forth and Chloe drew out her bow swiftly even as her companion pulled out his sword. The snake hissed at them and its mouth opened to reveal dozens of large, sharp and poisonous looking teeth. _

"_I so blame you for this!" Chloe shouted as she fired an arrow just as the snakes head shot towards them._

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><p>Chloe woke with a start, cold sweat making her hair stick uncomfortably to her face and neck. Her head was pounding as if a construction crew was working with a bulldozer inside her skull. She held her head in her hands trying to think coherently around the aching. What in Hades was that dream about? And what was making her head pound as if she had taken a hit, if not several, from Clarisse. She had a feeling that it had something to do with how she had bashed it on the chimney the night before. As for the dream... it gave her a bad feeling. It had all the tell tale signs of one of those prophetic dreams demigods sometimes had and it looked like she and some other hapless camper were going to become snake chow. Great.<p>

After a few minutes her head didn't hurt quite as much and her thoughts became clearer but her mind was still consumed with thoughts of the bizarre dream. Still thinking about it she got sluggishly out of bed to get ready for the day since it was about the time that she usually got up anyway. Quickly she took a shower and dressed in her usual camp T-shirt and a pair of shorts. She was already brushing her teeth before anyone else started to get up but she didn't notice them immediately because she was staring blankly at her reflection in the bathroom mirror as she brushed her teeth.

"Hey, hello... Earth to Chloe!" A hand waved in front of her face and her eyes snapped over to the nearly identical faces of Connor and Travis Stoll. They were staring at her intently and immediately she was out on guard.

"You alright? You've been staring into space for almost ten minutes while we called your name." Travis said casually as if it was no big deal. "Other people want to use the bathroom so hurry up or we'll be late for breakfast."

Chloe blinked a couple of times then slowly nodded and finished brushing her teeth. She watched the brothers invade the bathroom with a wary expression; it was unlike them to act concerned, especially towards her, she had made it very clear to them that she could take care of herself. She was probably being paranoid, but one had to be wary of the children of Hermes, especially after last week when a few of the newly claimed campers had thought it would be funny to throw Chloe's bow and quiver into the lake, along with her hunting knives. Now her knives were rusted and her bow and arrows were logged with water. In not so many words they were totally useless.

A scowl crossed her face as she thought about her ruined weapons; weapons she had had almost her whole life. Chiron had given her those weapons when she had first started training to fight when she was six. Sure they were old and worn and the bow was too small for her now, but these weapons were much like old friends. Needless to say that the new campers had quickly learned not to touch her belongings ever again and Chloe refused to help them figure out how to turn the kids newly acquired paws back into hands but eventually the satyrs had used some nature magic to help fix the problem. The kids still wouldn't go near Chloe if they could help it.

While Chloe waited for her cabin mates to get ready she made her bed, probably the only clean thing in the cabin, and pulled on her worn sneakers. She went over a list of her activities in her head and then went and began helping a few of the younger camper try to clean their bunks before they left for breakfast.

Breakfast was uneventful as ever, Mr. D made some very lack luster announcements but no one really paid hi much attention until Chiron stood and announced that they would be playing another game of capture the flag tonight. The entire camp had been on edge since the last game when Percy had stolen the flag from the Ares cabin. That meant that tonight it would be Poseidon against Athena, and the dream team of Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase would be going head to head against each other. All the cabins had already chosen sides and the teams were pretty even, if you were going by body count alone but there were a lot of bets going that Annabeth's team would win. Not only did she have the strategic power of the entire Athena cabin behind her, but she had managed to acquire the Ares, Apollo and Hephaestus cabins; that meant all the best fighter and archers were on her team along with the Hephaestus cabin's traps which would be laid out in places where people were guaranteed to get hit. Chloe almost wished she was on Annabeth's team. Almost. Chloe was one of the best at capture the flag, she had an uncanny ability to vanish into the woods almost as effectively as Annabeth's invisibility cap and she was confident that her team could pull off a victory.

When breakfast had finished the campers went to their morning activates but Chloe found that she couldn't concentrate on anything because her mind kept going back to her dream which was little more than a fuzzy memory by this point. She was wondering who the boy in the dream was and what exactly the two had been doing to get into the mess that they were in. She was suddenly broken from her thoughts when a hand descended on her shoulder and the bench she was sitting on moved slightly as someone sat on next to her. Chloe glanced to either side of her and was not at all surprised to discover that it was her two best friends who had come to disturb her.

The one with her hand on Chloe's shoulder was Sophia Pyros, daughter of Hephaestus. She was a girl with dark hair and intelligent green eyes; her face and arms were almost always smeared with dirt and grease along with the rest of her. The only things free of grime were the dog tags around her neck that had one belonged to her grandmother and then her mother who had both been mechanics in the army.

The other girl was the exact opposite being much smaller and cleaner than Sophia, who was tall and toned with lean muscles. This was Samantha Hearst, she was a pretty daughter of Aphrodite and like all of her siblings she had perfect makeup and clothes. Not to mention her hair which was honey blonde and styled with ringlets that cascaded out of a high pony tail and down her back. Her eyes were never quite the same color, but seemed to rest most often on a deep sapphire blue. Her father had been a French supermodel, but he had died in a tragic accident that Chloe had learned not to mention. Both girls were year-rounders like Chloe was and many people were amazed that the three got along do well considering how different they all were. Samantha was the girliest of girly girls, Sophia liked to be in the forge up to her elbows in ash and grease while Chloe could always be found outdoors, more often than not in the woods or the stables.

"Hey Knickers, you've been distracted all day. What's eating you?" Sophia asked in her husky voice that was a result of spending too much time inhaling smoke in the forges of her cabin. Chloe's face turned red at the nickname, Sophia had been calling her that since their first embarrassing meeting which had involved some pegasi, a magic marker, an hour glass, a lyre and a pair of underwear. The name never failed to light up Chloe's face like a Christmas tree.

"Would you stop calling me that?" Chloe grumbled and out of the corner of her eye she saw the dark haired girl crack a smug grin.

"Chloe, answer the question!" Samantha scolded in a sing song voice and rested her head on Chloe's shoulder as she put and appealing pout on her face. "If you have your head in the clouds you're not going to be very useful at capture the flag tonight."

"Is that all you're worried about?" Sophia snapped gruffly. "What about her well being?"

"I do care about her well being! But I also care about winning tonight's game and showing up the Athena cabin." Samantha protested.

Chloe sighed. She was used to their bickering by now. "You just want to show off for Malcolm."

Samantha gasped as if in shock, like the idea was totally preposterous, but her face had turned red none the less. The other two just grinned; it was painfully obvious that Sam had it really bad for the son of Ares. Thing was that she'd never even spoken two words at a time to him and he didn't even seem to know that she existed. Talk about a tragic love story.

"Stop changing the subject!" Samantha exclaimed with the most adorable pout she could muster on her face. "The issue at hand is Chloe's obliviousness to the world around her! Are you having boy trouble dear?"

Chloe raised an eyebrow as if to say 'seriously?' She had never in her time at camp had any interest in dating or giggling about boys. She was about as knowledgeable about love and boys as Sam was about the inner workings of Leo Valdez's automation Dragon. But she didn't say anything and just shrugged and rubbed her head.

"It's nothing like that. I just had a weird dream last night and it's really been bugging me. There was this giant snake and a boy..." She stopped abruptly knowing she had said more than she should. Sophia simply grunted in acknowledgment; Sam however looked a bit dazzled.

"So it IS about a boy!" She practically squealed. "What was his name? Was he cute? What were you doing?"

"You know I would have paid attention to all that stuff had we not been running for our lives and getting attacked by a great dirty snake!" Chloe said a little irritably. What did it matter if he was cute or not? They were about to be eaten!

"No need to get snippy. It was just a dream after all." Sam said with a huff looking put out and Chloe felt a little guilty. She wasn't normally so snippy with Sam, but for some reason she was suddenly feeling very touchy, as if Sam's concern for the boy in the dream had touched a nerve.

"Maybe it wasn't just a dream." Sophia said. "Chloe has prophetic dreams more than anyone else at camp aside from the Apollo campers and Rachel. Though usually only in short snippets that have no significance or make no sense. Maybe she was having one of those." It seemed reasonable but this only seemed to serve to make Chloe even more worried about the dream.

"Great... I'm destined to become an evening snack with some boy I don't even know." She sighed throwing her hands up into the air exasperatedly. "Maybe I should talk to Rachel about this."

"It would be a good idea, but you should wait till after tonight's game otherwise you'll be thinking about it all night and get pulverized by the Ares kids." Sam said and smiled charmingly when the other two girls sent her deadpanned looks.

Chloe sighed and got up from the bench. "I suppose you're right. I'll go talk to Rachel tomorrow, but right now I need to eat some lunch and then take a nap."

After lunch Chloe went back to the Hermes cabin and tried to fall asleep but all she could do was manage to toss and turn on her bunk without feeling the slightest bit of sleepiness. She wondered if maybe she should visit the Hypnos cabin and see if Clovis could give her something to sleep, but she knew very well that if she went into that Cabin she may never come back out.

Finally though, Chloe managed to doze off into a half sleep. It wasn't resting, or anything of the like. Instead another vivid dream came to Chloe.

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><p><em>This dream seemed more sinister than the last. Chloe was in a dark room once again. This one lit only by a handful of candles that lined the large room one shelves of varying height. The room itself was undecorated aside from various scenes of death that were painted onto the walls. Upon closer inspection Chloe recognized them as scenes from the famous Trojan war that had taken place more than a millennia ago.<em>

_Something in the room moved, gaining Chloe's attention and she turned, though she wasn't actually physically there, a woman was sitting on a large throne like chair at the head of the room that she hadn't noticed before. She was looking at something behind Chloe but the girl found that when she looked she could see nothing at all but the dark hall around her. _

"_Everything is set to begin. Strife and Discord will soon create another war. A war to put the Trojan, World Wars and the War with Kronos to shame." The woman said with a wicked smile on her face. "We just have one more errand to finish. I trust you have that covered?"_

"_Yesss Missstresss" A silky slithering voice that made the hair on Chloe's neck stand on end answered from somewhere in the room. Chloe couldn't see the source of it but she could feel the presence of the person... or thing that it belonged to. "Everything isss ssset. But what ssshall we do about the demigodssss? Sssurely they will try to interfere."_

"_Don't worry about them. Within the week everyone in that camp will be pitted against each other. No one will care to tamper with our plans. Even the gods will feel my wrath in this war." The first woman responded with an uninterested shrug. "And even if they do I'm sure you can handle a couple of the god's whelps without much trouble."_

"_Of courssse." _

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><p>Once again Chloe found herself waking suddenly and sitting up so fast her head began spinning, even so she looked around wildly and upon realizing she was in the Hermes cabin she relaxed. She was no longer in that dark room with the sinister voices and plans of war, she was warm in her bunk at camp where she would be playing a nice and (relatively) safe game of capture the flag. It took her several seconds to realize what time it was. She had already missed supper and the game would be starting soon if the watch on her wrist was anything to go by.<p>

With a curse she grabbed her armor and the spare sword she had borrowed from the camps weapon's stock and dashed out of the Hermes cabin, hastily pulling on said armor as she bolted toward the forest where Chiron was just finishing going over the rules. The centaur spare her a glance as she joined the crowd of campers who were to be her teammates but didn't say anything to draw attention to her lateness. Somehow she suspected that they'd be having a long talk about why she had missed supper and was late for the game.

Samantha and the Stroll brothers greeted Chloe with small smiles as she joined them and she gave an encouraging nod to Percy who somehow managed to look excited, determined and terrified all at the same time while he constantly glanced over at Annabeth who was talking quietly with some of her siblings. Chloe was glad that he wasn't given the chance to worry long because soon the teams split up to find good places to set their flags and set up a strategy of attack.

"I'll be in charge of the defense of our flag." Percy declared once they had put their flag in a place that it would be visible to the other team, as was the rule. The team was gathered around him listening closely.

"Don't want to face your girlfriend?" One camper called out and several others snickered.

""No..." Said Percy with a serious face. "Annabeth will probably lead the attack to get our flag and she'll be using her invisibility cap to do it. I'm fairly certain I can predict her teams plan of attack. That being said, Chloe and the Stolls are going to be in charge of the attack team so listen up."

By the time the strategy had been decided on the team only had a few seconds before the conch horn blew, the signal to begin the game. Chloe was heading the attack team with Travis, Connor and a small group of Hermes campers along with Sam and one of her braver brothers. The plan was to let the two Aphrodite campers cause a distraction so the others could slip by and noticed. It was a simple plan that could be foiled easily but it was a chance they were willing to take.

Chloe was ahead of the rest of the group, leading them silently and stealthily through the trees since she had excellent night vision and was almost like a ghost passing through the trees, without her in the lead the team would have been caught on enemy territory at least seven times. She'd also ha to back track at least twice since they had lost her track. The sounds of battle were all around them but they managed to pass by all of the fighting undetected and followed the shouts of enemy campers all the way to where they had their flag set up.

The blue flag had been set high in a tree that was at least four stories tall and stood alone in the middle of a clearing lit up by the nearly full moon above them. It was almost guaranteed that archers were hidden among the trees waiting for anyone who got too close to the tree. There were probably traps around the clearing as well, pits of Greek fire and land mines filled with laughing gas that would go off and leave anyone in a ten foot radius easy pickings for the archers.

"I'm going for it." Travis said but Chloe caught his arm and pulled him back.

"That's what they want you to do. As soon as you get close... if you can get close, they're going to have you on the ground looking like a pin cushion." Chloe said as she scanned the trees looking for any of the archers hidden nearby.

"If that's the case no one will be able to get out there fast enough." Connor argued but they had to admit, she had a point.

"Cause a distraction, I can get up there and get the flag while their busy with you. Just make sure they think you're going for the flag." Chloe said edging back into the trees and disappearing into the foliage, one of the archers had spotted them. The brothers nodded and motioned for the other campers to follow them into the clearing. Almost immediately they were fending off arrows but Chloe didn't stay to help. She skirted around the edge of the clearing until she found an area where she was sure there weren't as many traps, then dashed over to the tree, setting off an obnoxious alarm that alerted the whole camp that the Athena flag had been found.

Chloe couldn't do anything but ignore the alarm and began climbing the tree as fast as she could. The flag was a fair way up so it took her a minute or two to reach it. It was when she had finally grabbed the flag that everything started to go horribly wrong. The ground shook violently and the branches of the tree trembled. Chloe looked down and saw that one of the campers had tripped over a nearly invisible string in an attempt to avoid an arrow that was covered with Greek fire. The arrow in turn had tripped a land mine at the base of the tree and suddenly the branches were catching fire.

No one seemed to notice the fire spreading up the trunk of the tree immediately and it was only when the dryad who lived in the tree shrieked in pain over the alarm did everyone stop what they were doing and noticed the fire, but it was already too late. The tree was old and beginning to rot through the trunk, with the fire added the tree snapped like a dry twig and lurched as it began to fall. Campers stopped fighting and scattered to get out of the way but Chloe didn't have time to get out of the tree and as it fell she lost her grip on the branch she was on and was thrown into the air with a cry of panic.

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><p>Hate it? Like it? Reviews would be much appreciated so I could get some input! No flames though please they depress me, although constructive criticism and suggestions are always welcome!~<p>

I have a few more chapters typed up on my computer (I usually do a rough draft in my scribbler) and they will be posted according to how the response to the story is.

Partídes tou lov~(Yeah that's Greek for "Lots of love" at least that's what Google translate tells me.)

Peter~


	2. Lost and Found

**Disclaimer****: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Unfortunately that right goes to Rick Riordan.**

**Yay!~ Chapter two! I have chapter 3 and part of chapter 4 written already they just need some tweaking and then I'll have No. 3 up perhaps next week.  
><strong>

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><p>Chapter 2<p>

Chloe temporarily lost consciousness when she hit the ground, but she was awake again within seconds as she was hit with a wave if pain. Her entire body hurt as if she'd been hit by a runaway minotaur but nothing seemed to be broken so that was something for her to be grateful for. She examined her body and discovered a few cuts and bruises but was ultimately in one piece. She looked around, hoping to see other campers nearby but she was entirely alone. It appeared as though she had been thrown quite far because the only sound she could hear was the deep hoot of a nearby owl. She couldn't hear the other campers at all.

"Damn... this sucks." She groaned as she got to her feet, staggering a little and using a nearby tree for support. When she was sure of her balance she started walking in the direction she hoped camp would be but she couldn't be entirely sure. After fifteen minutes of aimless walking Chloe still couldn't see or hear any sign that she was going in the right direction. She began to wonder just how far she had been thrown when a crack behind her made her freeze in her tracks. Her hand settled on the hilt of her sword and she turned slowly toward the sound. She couldn't see anything in the trees so she took a step towards where she though the sound had come from. She saw a flash and drew her sword quickly, but not quickly enough because before she had even drawn hit half way a blade of cold black metal was pointed at her throat. Chloe looked down the sword and was surprised to see a boy maybe a year or two older than her almost literally materialize out of the shadows.

The first thing Chloe noticed about this boy was his eyes. They were dark in color and seemed to be as cold as ice. Chloe was frozen under his gaze, she couldn't move an inch, she felt fear prickle on the back of her neck and literally felt as if the look he was given her could really kill her despite the fact that the grip on his blade lessened. Chloe stared at him for another full minute before he lowered his blade completely from her neck then suddenly collapsed. Regardless of her fear Chloe jumped to catch him, almost falling under his weight before she managed to lay him against the trunk of a nearby tree.

She studied the boy for a moment as he lay there. Now that there wasn't a blade at her throat and she wasn't paralyzed by his eyes she didn't feel quite so afraid. The boy was handsome, there was no denying that and Chloe's face flushed at the thought. His hair was dark, almost black, and shaggy and his skin was pale but from the look of him his complexion must have been darker at some point. He was dressed from head to toe in black clothing that hid his lean form. Chloe knew he must be a demigod since he seemed very familiar for some reason, the most demigods did look familiar though because of their godly parent.

Upon further inspection she also realized that this boy was wounded, if the dark blood stain on his jacket was anything to go by. Gently, she pulled the jacket away from his torso and tugged his shirt above the injury; she tried to resist looking at his chest directly and focused on the wound while chewing the inside of the cheek, a habit that surfaced only when she was very nervous or worried about something. There was a long thin gash along the boy's side, it wasn't deep, thank the gods, but it was bleeding more than it should be and needed to be stemmed. Chloe looked at the flag in her hand (she'd still be carrying it) and frowned. She was going to be in trouble for this.

"Sorry Chiron." She muttered and ripped the flag into thin strips that she used as a makeshift bandage to bind the wound. Once she was finished she picked up the boy's jacket and threw it over him then got to her feet and began gathering fallen branches and twigs in the area to start a fire. She knew she couldn't move the boy for a while; at least not until he was conscious, and a fire would keep the weaker monsters at bay as well as keep them warm. Chloe hadn't failed to notice that the boy's skin literally felt as cold as an iceberg.

Chloe used her borrowed sword and a rock to create sparks and start the fire, it took a little while but soon she had a small blaze going that she continuously fed the dry branches she had gathered earlier. She would have to get some more wood later, since the small pile she had gathered wouldn't last the whole night and if it went out she and the mysterious stranger she had found were as good as dead.

The night wore on slowly, more slowly than Chloe would have liked. She jumped at every noise and thought she saw monsters in the shadow of every tree; in short she was extremely paranoid. It was odd that she was so frightened of the woods; normally it was her sanctuary she came here all the time and she had never felt as afraid as she did now. Perhaps it was because she knew she was lost or because she was increasingly tired and sore. The fall from the tree was beginning to catch up with her; maybe it was a combination of all those things that had made her so afraid. Then again she had felt a constant prickle on the back of her neck since that boy had popped out of nowhere, but she wasn't really sure that that feeling was fear.

After what seemed like an eternity light began to creep over the trees as the sun rose from the east. Thankfully with the rising sun Chloe was able to determine the general direction of camp, though Zeus knew how long it would take her to get back, especially with an injured person slowing her down. Speaking of, Chloe glanced over to the boy, something she had avoided most of the night because his presence had made her a little uneasy. He seemed to stir a bit with the light coming up around him and suddenly his eyes opened and he tried to sit up but Chloe was beside him in an instant.

"Hey stay down, you're hurt." She said pushing on his shoulders to get him to lie back down. It didn't really seem to have much effect because he acted as if she was hardly a deterrent.

"Who in Hades are you?" He growled in both pain and annoyance.

Chloe didn't answer immediately; she thought she heard something further inro the trees, but when she did not hear the sound again she turned to the boy, avoiding direct eye contact. "My name is Chloe; I'm from Camp Half-Blood."

"What're you doing in the middle of the woods?" He sounded more curious no than annoyed. But then again, he didn't really have the energy to stay annoyed at the moment.

"Ah... I was knocked out of a tree during a game of capture the flag; I somehow ended up way out here." She admitted. Saying it out loud made it sound really lame and Chloe felt embarrassed telling anyone about it. Never the less, the boy didn't laugh at her so it must not have been as lame as she thought (Though it seemed like this kid never laughed at all). "Now you should stop talking and save your strength."

She didn't expect him to obey her but was surprised when he nodded and leaned back against the tree though his grimace of pain may have contributed more to his silence than her request did. The silence would have been tense, had Chloe not been half asleep from staying up all night, but as it was she was unable to tell if the boy was uncomfortable of not.

"Who exactly are you?" Chloe asked after a while this was out of curiosity but also because she needed something to keep her awake while she tried to figure out how to get out of here with an injured person.

"Nico Di Angelo." He replied and Chloe blinked in surprise. As far as she knew Nico had left camp two years ago and hadn't come back, but then he was known to come and go as he pleased. It was no wonder she hadn't really recognized him either, he had changed in the last two years. He was taller now and looked a bit older, less like the boy he had been when he had first arrived at camp. Not that Chloe had ever spoken to him much anyway.

Chloe opened her mouth to say something but stopped and closed her mouth so fast her teeth clicked loudly in the silence. She knew she had heard movement in the dark trees now. Like something big was coming towards them while dragging something. Nico seemed to hear it too because his entire body went ridged and he gripped his sword tightly.

"What do you think you're doing?" Chloe asked as he tried to get up. "You are in no condition to fight against anything, sit back down."

"Neither are you." He stated bluntly after giving her a once over. Chloe knew he was right, she was exhausted and still sore as hell, but she was still in better fighting condition than he was.

"Listen Di Angelo, if I die it's no big deal. I'm just an unclaimed nobody. If you die, not only is Hades coming after me personally, but the whole camp will hate me." She snapped.

"You're still unclaimed?" He asked clearly surprised with the information. Chloe took the opportunity to make sure he stayed down and out of the fight by socking him roughly in the stomach so he doubled over in pain, all the while sending her an absolutely foul look that sent shivers up her spine.

"Sorry Nico." She muttered but she wasn't really. He would just be in the way and get the both of them killed.

She set out into the trees, moving stealthily toward the noise which was becoming louder and louder as she moved until it stopped altogether. Chloe stopped as well, the sword in her hand held up in case of a sudden attack.

The whole forest was silent, not even the birds were singing, and then Chloe heard hissing and a snakelike head shot out of the trees to her right, she couldn't block the attack, the head was too big so she rolled out of the way and into a ready crouch. The monster came into view and the demigod swore in Greek.

The beast was huge, it had a large snake like head at both ends of its body, bird like feet in the middle and a pair of fluffy feather wings that looked very out of place on its back. Its whole body was covered in earthy coloured scales that looked like they could be as hard as a Drakon's hide and Chloe knew that inside the creature's mouths were rows of venomous teeth. She's read about this creature before.

"Amphisbaena." She breathed fearfully. She wasn't sure how one had gotten inside camp boundaries (Assuming she was still within the boundaries) but she knew she had to stop it. If she didn't not only would she and Nico be dead but the camp and her friends would be in danger.

The Amphisbaena's forked tongue shot out, tasting the air and the front head lunged out at he again. This time Chloe ducked under it and slashed at its belly, which looked more vulnerable than the rest of it. Blood spurted out of the cut she mad and she had to move quickly to avoid the back head which spat a puddle of venom at her face.

Chloe knew she would have to finish the monster quickly if she wanted to survive this ordeal and for the first couple attacks she repeated the action of slashing at its belly. But the serpent was getting wise to her tactic and began going low so there was no room for her to duck under it. Instead she tried slashing at the wings but this only seemed to make the beast mad and it hissed and spat poison more. It took her longer than she liked but finally she managed to slice off the front head of the creature. The back head screamed in pain as it began to dissolve but it turned and managed to spit some poison before it vanished and the substance hit Chloe's arm before she could move out of the way.

The girl screamed as the venom burned her skin and she fell to her knees as she cradled the arm to her chest. She bent over herself, her head almost touching the ground and her teeth clenched together in pain. It hurt so much, and it was corroding her skin rapidly, it would only be a matter of time before the poison got into her blood stream. Her head started to spin and she rolled onto her back so she was staring at the tree tops. Closing her eyes she realized how tired she really was and she knew if she fell asleep she would most definitely die. But at least everyone was safe.

Somewhere in the back of her mind Chloe acknowledged that she heard something else moving in the woods nearby but she wouldn't have been able to fight another monster if she wanted to. She heard whatever it was come closer and she tried to open her eyes but she had already blacked out.

~O~

When Chloe came to she wasn't sure where she was of how she was alive or why the Greek god of the sun was standing next to her bedside. The gods, with the exception of Mr. D never came to camp, which meant she must be either be dead or hallucinating in the last moments of her life.

"Hey sweetie, how are you feeling?" Apollo asked flashing a smile that would have made most girls melt. Chloe however just frowned in confusion.

"Apollo? What in the name of Zeus are you doing at my bedside?" She asked bluntly. Had she been more awake and less confused she would have remembered to be polite to a god. But at the moment she really could care less about her mannerisms.

"Don't be so rude. I was the one who healed you after that Amphisbaena spit poison at you. Good job killing it by the way, not many demigods could have taken on a monster like that while in the condition you were in" The handsome young god said and suddenly Chloe felt more awake if not for the fact that a god had complimented her then definitely for the memory of the of the double headed snake she had fought. Which brought her to another thought.

"What about Nico? He was hurt when I left to fight the Amphisbaena!" She said sitting up so abruptly her head spun a little bit.

"Hades's kid? He was out of the infirmary days ago. Wasn't too happy that you punched him by the way."

Chloe sighed in relief, though why she was relieved was beyond her. She hardly knew Nico, but then again if he had died she knew she would have felt responsible for it. She looked up at Apollo again an smile widely.

"Thanks Apollo." She said. "But what exactly are you doing here?"

"Well you see the gods were watching your game of capture the flag on Hephaestus TV which is the only reason you survived that fall by the way. Aphrodite dumped you close to where the boy was hoping for some sort of heartfelt moment I guess. We all saw you fight the monster, Hephaestus has cameras everywhere you know. They caught everything from the time you fell and met the Di Angelo kid till you passed out and the kid dragged both himself and you back to camp."

"He carried me all the way back to camp while he was injured!" She asked abruptly but quieted when Apollo sent her a dangerous look for interrupting.

"The point is, you and that boy garnered some attention from the gods and not necessarily in a good way. Especially when it comes to Aphrodite. I came here to warn you about that and because I owed your mother a favour." He said looking almost smug.

Chloe's face flared red at the mention of Aphrodite being interested in her and possibly Nico. No, no way was she going to be some pawn for the goddess of love's foolish games. But what had he said about her mother?

"You know who my mother is?" Chloe exclaimed loudly and suddenly very excited. "Who is she?"

As soon as the question was out of her mouth she saw Apollo's expression change for a split second and he looked almost sad but then it was gone and he stood with a stretch. "I should get going, lots to do you know. I am the god of the Sun."

"Hey wait!" Chloe called but Apollo just waved and she reflexively looked away as Apollo took on his divine form and vanished.

When Chloe opened her eyes she scowled at the place where Apollo had been standing, but she knew better than to curse a god. So grumpily she got out of the infirmary bed and check over her injuries. Apollo had done a good job healing her. The cuts and bruises were completely gone and the venom burn on her arm had healed well, aside from the fist sized scar that looked as if it was several weeks old.

Once she was done checking herself over she left the infirmary to go find Chiron, she was well aware she'd get scolded for leaving without being cleared to do so but she wanted answers and she was intent on getting them. However Chiron was nowhere to be found in the big house or around it. Even Mr. D was mysteriously missing from his usual lawn chair. It wasn't anywhere near lunch time so it was unlikely that either of them were at the Pavilion. Really there was no way to tell where Mr. D was but it seemed as if Chiron was probably out with some of the campers doing training exercises. There was no way she could get him to answer any of her questions if he was surrounded by other campers, like she would want them knowing what she was going to ask anyway.

For the time being she decided to let the matter be, there was nothing she could do about the situation so she decided that her best option right now was to sneak into the dining pavilion and swipe some food from the kitchens. After being unconscious for Zeus knew how long she was famished. So she made her way down to the pavilion and snuck into the kitchens where the Harpies were thankfully absent. She opened the fridge and rummaged around until she found some sort of left over pasta and then pulled it out and shut the fridge door with her foot.

Chloe nearly screamed when she turned around and found Nico leaning against the wall close to the door but settled for cursing loudly and placed a hand over her heart. "Holy Hera, you scared me half to Hades and back." She scolded giving him a sour look then went over to the counter to open the container.

"Sorry" Nico said automatically but he didn't look very sorry at all. "You know the Harpies are going to be mad as hornets if they find you down here sneaking food."

Chloe paused in opening the plastic container holding the noodles and looked over her shoulder at him. "Yes... and?" She asked and saw him raise an eyebrow.

"You're not afraid they'll eat you or something?"

She rolled her eyes and went back to her noodles, fishing out a fork from somewhere and put a big forkful into her mouth. She chewed and swallowed before answering. "Contrary to popular belief the Harpies have never actually eaten a camper... at least not as long as I've been here. By the way how are you doing? Did Apollo heal you as well?" She didn't ask because she was worried, more just for the sake of conversation. She had never spoken to a child of Hades for an extended period of time or really any boy aside from Travis and Connor. She wasn't really sure what to talk about. That and maybe she was a little worried.

"Apollo came here specifically for you. He let his kids handle me. Did he give you my message by the way?"

"The one about hitting you? Yeah he told me you were sore about that but I'm not apologizing." She replied bluntly. "If you had tried to fight that thing we both could have died."

"You came pretty close anyway. By the time I found Chiron looking for you in the woods your life force was pretty weak. If Apollo hadn't suddenly showed up you'd likely be over the river Styx and past the judgement pavilion by now."

It took a moment for Chloe to realize how he knew this and how he was able to sense her 'life force' but then she remembered he was a Son of Hades. It would make sense that he would be able to feel her death or if she was about to die. For some reason that unnerved her more than his sudden appearance in the woods did. She wondered if he was also able to tell when she would die now that she was out of the danger of being killed by poison. A morbid thought but she was curios none the less, but she wasn't going to ask him, it might seem a little rude.

"I guess I'm lucky he showed up then." She said after another mouthful of pasta. Despite how hungry she was she found that the food didn't taste as good as she had hoped, with a small exhale she put the cover back on the dish and stashed it back in the fridge. It was unlikely that the Harpies would notice she'd been in here. Hopefully anyway.

She heard Nico shift a bit from his spot and she glanced over but it didn't look as if he had moved at all. But if he hadn't moved that meant that someone was approaching the kitchen from outside the door. It didn't sound like Harpies, their footsteps would have sounded like a strange clicking, it had to be a camper and she just hope it wasn't Clarisse or any of her siblings. Instinctively her hand went to her shoulder as if to draw her bow for protection, but her bow wasn't there, it was ruined and back at the Hermes cabin. She saw Nico actually move now out of the corner of her eye but paid him no heed as she looked back at the door in time to see two all too familiar faces burst onto the scene.

"Chloe!" Sam wailed throwing herself onto the unsuspecting demigod girl. "You're okay!" Chloe did her best to keep her balance but staggered under the sudden assault before she managed to right herself and pat Sam on the back comfortingly. "You weren't in the infirmary when we went to go check on you so we thought maybe you had died."

"Correction: Samantha freaked out and was about to begin a search for your dead body which had been 'stolen' before I mentioned that you probably dragged your butt out of bed to get food." Sophia said as she too walked into the room. Neither said anything to Nico, who had vanished as quickly as he had come and Chloe frowned. How had he managed to get out of there before Sam noticed him? That girl had the uncanny ability to notice boys before she even entered a room.

"I'm glad to know I'm so predictable." Chloe said as Sam extracted herself from the other girl with a little sniff.

"How can you act so casual! We were so worried about you! First that tree falls with you in it and no one can find you and the next thing we know you're being carried into camp half dead by a wounded boy who happens to be a so on Hades no less!" Sam began ranting looking absolutely livid. "Do you know what losing my beauty sleep does to me! We thought you were dead! Scratch that... you were dead! You died Chloe! It's a miracle they were able to revive you!"

"Umm..." Chloe looked at a loss of what to say to console her friend. She had actually died? Well she'd be having words with Nico and Apollo about that later for leaving that tidbit of information out.

"Calm down Sam. She's not dead now, she probably didn't even know." Sophia said calmly putting a hand on the blonde's shoulder. Sam nodded weakly then turned and marched out of the room silently. Chloe wanted to go after her, comfort her friend but Sophia stopped her.

"Just leave her alone for a while Knickers. She was pretty beat up about the whole thing, she was afraid she'd lost someone else important." The dark haired daughter of Hephaestus said calmly. It was then that Chloe got a good look at Sophia's face. She looked as if she hadn't slept in days and her eyes were a bit red as if she'd been crying recently and Chloe had never in the five years they had known each other seen Sophia cry. She suddenly realized just how badly she had scared them, this wasn't one of her injuries she had gotten while doing something stupid and reckless where Sam would get upset and cry and Sophia would scold her. They had thought she wasn't coming back this time, it wasn't a stunt that could have been solved by a sip of Nectar and a Band-Aid.

"Sophia... I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to..." She wasn't sure what to say and her expression became upset. "I didn't..."

"It's not your fault Knickers... it was an accident that the tree fell, and a total fluke that you ran across a dangerous monster in the woods. I'm just glad you got out of it with nothing more than a scar on your arm." Sophia gave her a tight one armed hug; she was tall enough that she could rest her chin on Chloe's head with ease. After a moment she pulled away and clapped the girl on the shoulder. "Come on, everyone else was worried too. They'll be glad to see you up and about."

Chloe let Sophia lead her out of the kitchens and back onto the grounds where most campers were just getting back from their afternoon activities. Several of them saw her and waved to her in greeting while others that she was more familiar with ran over to briefly talk to her or give her a hug but something seemed a bit different in the way they acted toward her, did everyone know of her scrape with death? In the case of Travis and Connor they ran over, almost taking her out and soaked her thoroughly since they had just finished swimming in the lake. She was saved by Chiron and Percy who approached from the opposite direction of the rest of the campers.

"Alright you three, go get ready for supper. I have to speak with Chloe for a moment. Don't worry you'll see her at supper." Chiron said shooing the brothers and Sophia off to their respective cabins. Chloe was a bit reluctant to let Sophia leave, she wanted to be close to her friend, but then Chiron took her by the shoulder and led her back up to the Big House and sat her at the table where Mr. D usually played cards with the satyrs. There was still no sign of the god of wine anywhere.

"How are you feeling dear? Not dizzy or anything?" Chiron asked watching her with worry on his face. Chloe started to feel guilty all over again for making everyone worry. Chiron was like a father to her, he had raised her since she was very small and if she pressed her memory back as far as she could his was one of the faces she could remember clearest. He was one of her best friends and her confidant, she told him almost everything and she had repaid him by causing him nothing but worry.

"I'm okay Chiron. Really, I feel as good as ever." She said trying to show him a smile. The centaur smiled back, seeming a little more relieved and less concerned than he had been.

"That's good to hear. Now I wanted to talk to you about what happened during our game a week ago. Yes I know you're surprised that you managed to sleep through a week but considering what you went through it is not all that surprising. Please tell us what happened." He motioned to himself and Percy, who was by unspoken consent, the head counselor of pretty much the entire camp aside from Chiron.

Nodding Chloe launched into an explanation that started with her strange dreams the night before the game and how they had been distracting her throughout the day. She knew it wasn't exactly what they wanted to know but it would be something she would have told them eventually anyway and now was as good a time as any. Besides, it couldn't be a coincidence that she was having prophetic dreams the night before she nearly died. Once she had explained the dreams she moved on to what happened during the game after her group had split from Percy's. How she had climbed the tree and blacked out for a time before she came to and realized she wasn't near the camp. She paused briefly when she told them how she found Nico and omitted the part about how his presence made her uneasy. She told them how she had bandaged his wound and started a fire to wait until sunrise and moved on to tell them that they had spoken briefly before she fought the Amphisbaena.

"He told us you punched him." Percy said and Chloe didn't fail to notice the slight upward quirk to his lips as if he found the prospect funny.

"He wasn't in any condition to do any fighting, he could hardly stand up. If he had tried to help he would have gotten us both killed and I needed a way to keep him out of the way at least for a little while." She said with a huff.

"Okay, okay... continue." Percy said putting his hands up in mock surrender.

She nodded and continued to describe how she fought the double ended snake going into more detail here as she explained everything up until she killed it and passed out when it shot the venom at her. Here she stopped and sat staring quietly at her hands until Chiron spoke.

"Well you certainly did go through an ordeal. I can't tell you how surprised we all were when several other campers and I found Nico injured any carrying you in the woods. You were unconscious and he was ready to pass out but he wouldn't let any of us even look at his injuries until we had taken you back to camp."

"Nico can be pretty stubborn." Percy agreed. "Nearly passed out by the time we got him back here."

"Men are always stubborn they don't know when they should just sit down and let someone else handle everything." Chloe said crossing her arms.

"You sound like the Hunters." Nico said coming up the stairs of the deck. Chloe nearly fell out of her chair in surprise.

"Would you stop popping up out of nowhere!" She exclaimed when he sat in a chair next to Percy. "First you scare the crap out of me in the woods then you decide it would be fun to sneak up on me in the kitchen..."

"Why were you in the kitchen?" Chiron cut across her sternly.

Chloe shut her mouth and glared at the table top as if she could burn a hole in it and she could feel Chiron staring at her. She could also tell that Percy was doing his best not to laugh at her and she sent him a venomous look that caused him to look away from her to prevent himself from bursting. After a moment she cleared her throat and pointedly ignored Chiron's previous question.

"At any rate I told you everything I can remember. I don't know why you wanted me to recount it though. I'm sure Nico and Apollo told you the whole story."

"They did but I wanted to know if you had anything to add. And there was something I needed to tell you Chloe." The old Centaur looked serious as he looked at Chloe. Uneasiness swept through her entire being and she shifted nervously in her seat.

"What is it Chiron?"

"Well when we brought you back to camp something happened right before Apollo came to help you. We were in the infirmary so only some of the Apollo campers and I witnessed it and I debated keeping it quiet but it seems that the whole camp knows now anyway..." He was dodging around the topic as his white horse's hindquarters shuffled like they did when he became nervous.

"Chiron if this is about how I actually died before Apollo revived me-"

"No Chloe it's not that it was something else. You were claimed." Chiron said cutting across her.

Speechless didn't even begin to describe how Chloe felt. She couldn't have spoken if she wanted to, it was as if her throat had closed over and prevented her from talking. All she could do was stare at Chiron incredulously as so many different emotions began whirling around in her head.

"I know that it's a bit of a shock Chloe. Especially after so long, but there was a reason for it-" Chiron began but Chloe suddenly found her voice and cut him off.

"Who! Who is it!" She said standing so abruptly her chair fell back. She wanted to know, needed to know who her godly parent was. She had gone so long without knowing and had lost hope years ago that she would ever be claimed, even after Percy had made the gods vow. And now that her parent was known... she just had to know.

"Chloe you are the daughter of Artemis, goddess of the hunt."

* * *

><p><strong>Cliffhanger!~ Again. Sorry to do this to everyone who reads this, but I kind of had to end it there. You'll see what happens in the next chapter if you feel so inclined to read it. <strong>

**I'm actually not sure about how this chapter turn****ed out. I like it but I'm not sure how well it flowed together. Let me know what you think about it and what you think about Chloe. Please review guys i like it when I see messages in my inbox, it makes me happy on the inside. **

**~Peter**


	3. Prophesy of Discord

***Le Gaspe!* How many of you guys saw that one coming at the end of chapter 2? Huh how many? I know kinda cliche but hey I'm doing my best and besides who said Artemis couldn't have kids when Athena has a bazillion of them? **

**Disclaimer: I in no way, shape, or form own any rights to Percy Jackson and the Olympians no matter how much I wish I did. Nor do I own any copyrights on greek gods or demigods, for I am fairly certain that if I was to claim ownership of them I would be turned into a pile of goo... that being the most lenient of my punishments. However I do own Chloe, Sam, Sophia and Fredrick the cricket who lives in my head. Have a pleasant day!~ **

* * *

><p>Chapter 3<p>

"Chloe you are the daughter of Artemis, goddess of the hunt."Chiron said solemnly and for the second time Chloe was speechless. Artemis was supposed to be a chaste goddess, the eternal maiden who would never marry or fall in love. Her only love was the hunt and her Hunters were the closest thing she had to daughters. It should have been impossible, except that Athena too was supposed to be an eternal maiden and yet she had children. Annabeth had explained how the children of Athena were born to her once; perhaps her conception was something like that as well. But she could never be sure, not unless she spoke with Artemis in person.

"But... how?" She asked looking from Percy to Chiron to Nico and then back to Chiron.

"That as of yet remains unknown. Your existence and Artemis's claim on you has shocked even the other gods, which is why Mr. D is absent right now. Your mother refuses to explain herself to anyone and Apollo and Hermes, who were the only two who knew of the situation, are likewise refusing to speak about the matter. All we know is that the gods are very upset about this." Chiron said. He was trying to explain it in the kindest way possible, but every word felt like a blow to the chest. Suddenly she felt angry.

"But why! Why wouldn't she claim me before? Why won't she explain it to anyone? I came here when I was three and since then I've waited fourteen years for one of the gods to claim me! And when one finally does, she does so when I'm on my death bed and refuses to explain anything! Is she so ashamed to have a child?" Chloe snapped more to herself than anyone else there and harshly slammed her hand on the table. Suddenly she knew why some of the other demigods had left to join Luke and over throw the gods. She had never really understood it before, even though she was unclaimed, but now she did.

Chiron moved so he could stand beside her and Percy and Nico were silent. "Chloe I know it seems... bad right now. And none of us understand her motive for hiding you right now, but everything will be explained."

"How do you know!" Chloe snapped sourly and immediately felt guilty for snapping at him. He was only trying to help. She didn't even understand why she was so angry; she had always wanted to be claimed and really hadn't cared which god would do so. Even if they had been claiming their other children and not her, she had just wanted to be acknowledged; she wanted to know that her existence mattered to her parent. She felt Chiron's hands on her shoulders.

"I know because I received a message from the Hunters a few days ago. They are headed toward the camp, Artemis is with them. She said she wanted to speak with you before anything else is explained."

A sudden, bubbly warmth settled in Chloe's chest and she felt sort of dizzy due to the sudden change in her emotions. Her mother wanted to speak with her before she even spoke to the other gods to explain herself.

"When will they be here?" Chloe asked looking up at Chiron.

"Within the week. You of course will be moving to Cabin Eight before then. But I would like for you to spend one more night in the infirmary just so we can make sure that you're at a hundred percent."

Chloe was reluctant to agree to stay at the infirmary for another night but she realized Chiron was right and that she should get as much rest as she could. Her feelings were still mixed and confusing but at least for the moment she was feeling calm. She apologized to Percy and Nico for her outburst then went with the four to the dining pavilion where the rest of the camp was waiting to get supper started.

When they arrived Chloe could feel people watching her as she moved towards the tables that were arranged in a similar pattern to the layout of the cabins. She almost went to sit at the Hermes table, like she had done for the past fourteen years, but then she stopped herself and walked purposefully over to the Artemis table, which was usually reserved for when the Hunters came to camp, and sat at the only set place there. She heard some of the girls from the Aphrodite table next to her giggle and whisper something to each other and she could feel the Athena campers on the opposite side watching her but she did her best to ignore them and focus on her plate which had conjured a cheese burger for her.

Chiron stood to say something before they all dug in to eat and Chloe listened politely before she went up to put some of her food into the fire then went quietly back to the table and at her food silently. She had never realise how lonely it was, eating at a table with no other campers. She had become so used to being surrounded by the loud and obnoxious Hermes campers, usually with Travis and Connor on either side of her, now without all that chatter and someone to talk to she felt out of place. She guessed that this was how some of the other campers, with few kids in their cabins, felt.

When supper ended Chloe opted out of the campfire and sing along. She wasn't in the mood to have to deal with anyone else at the moment so she just went and hid away in the infirmary for the rest of the night. She didn't think that she would be able to sleep very well that night but sleep came surprisingly quickly though she could have go without the dreams for once.

"_Our prey has been captured then?" It was the woman on the throne and her dark room again. She looked bored as she leaned against the arm of her chair but there was a malicious smile on her face that told Chloe otherwise. This woman was very happy about something. "That's perfect, we're just in time to watch things at Olympus and that camp of infants turn into battle zones, especially now when Artemis claimed that daughter of hers. I admit I was a bit surprised but it has made tensions on Olympus rise."_

"_Your plan isss flawless. Ssssoon every mortal will feel your influence and they too will sssstart warsss of their own." There was that hissing voice again; the one that Chloe couldn't see the owner of but knew that they were there in the room somewhere. The talk of wars made Chloe nervous especially when her mother had been mentioned. She didn't want her mother used to start a war no matter how mad she might have felt earlier in the day. _

"_Yes. By the end of the week my wish will be fulfilled. Both the mortal and immortal realms will be fighting. Just the thought of it sends chills down my spine, I can't wait for it." The woman on the throne paused and a frown suddenly crossed her face and her lips pursed. Her eyes darted over to where Chloe's dream form stood and the demigod felt frozen in fear. The woman's eyes burned like fire and hatred as she stared at the young girl. _

"_I see we have an uninvited guest. Artemis's whelp, I would welcome you to my throne room, however soon it will be your tomb!" Somewhere behind her Chloe heard something move closer to her and she heard hissing not unlike the monster she had fought not a week ago. She turned to look at what it was but all she saw was blackness. Suddenly a serpent like tail shot out at her and Chloe closed her eyes and pulled her arms up in front of her face. _

The blow never came and when Chloe opened her eyes she found herself tangled in the sheets of the infirmary with light spilling in the windows. It was just another dream. A very real and potentially dangerous dream but a dream none the less.

Slowly Chloe got out of the bed and she dressed and went through her normal morning routine trying to shake the uneasy feeling she had growing in the pit of her stomach. She overlapped thoughts of the dream with the fact that today she would be moving into the Artemis cabin. She would have an entire cabin to herself and would no longer have to worry about other campers getting into her things or getting a hold of her weapons or sharing the bathroom. Yeah she was pretty excited about it.

She went to breakfast for only as long as she had to, and then went down to the Hermes cabin to collect her things. Connor and Travis, who had somehow managed to get to the cabin before she did, met her there with an offer to help.

"You two just want to see the inside of the cabin don't you?" She said as she shoved all of her clothes and smaller belongings into a duffle bag. She didn't have a whole lot of things to begin with and aside from her mutilated bow she really didn't have any larger possessions. Never the less she let the boys follow her to the doorstep of the silver cabin. She opened the door slowly and looked around.

It was a spacious room that looked like it would be very warm and comfortable. There was a brazier in the center of the room that burned without any smoke and the floor was covered with soft silk rugs. The beds were dressed with silver silk sheets and pillows and on the walls hung animal pelts and other various hunting trophies that included something that looked suspiciously like the barbed stinger of a manticore. The bunk beds were spaced evenly apart; the top of each of the bed posts was carved to resemble the head of a different animal or mythological beast. To top it all off, the ceiling was painted to look like the night sky, complete with a moon like light hanging in the center; Chloe had a sneaking suspicion that it glowed in the night and probably followed the moon phases.

Chloe walked into the cabin, pausing in the door way momentarily as she felt a buzz around her that she recognized as nature magic but after a moment the buzzing left her and she was able to continue into the room. She turned to the door where the brothers were looking in warily and just as Travis was about to step through Chiron appeared behind him.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. Not unless you want to spend the rest of your life as a jack rabbit." The centaur warned. "Only girls can enter the cabin. There is nature magic around all of the windows and the door."

That was all Travis needed to know to take two steps back from the door. He and Connor exchanged looks then gave a wave to Chloe before heading back to their own cabin. Chloe smiled then went back out the door and stood on the steps so she was eye level with the centaur standing there.

"Are you just starting to settle in?" He asked.

"Yeah. Haven't even gotten anything unpacked yet I'll do that before I head to sword training." She said glancing back into the cabin.

"You haven't gone to practise with swords in almost a year Chloe." Chiron said.

"Exactly why I need practise. With my bow and knives useless I have to have a decent handle on using a sword at least until I can find suitable replacements." She replied rubbing her neck. To be honest she wasn't as comfortable fighting with swords as she was with a knife or a bow. She would go so far as to say she felt naked in battle without her quiver strapped to her back.

"Well if that's the case perhaps you should look into finding replacements soon. Using a weapon you have less practise with can mean all the difference in a fight. The dreams you spoke about trouble me, we may have a battle on our hands sooner than we would have liked."

The grimness of Chiron's statement sent a shiver of fear through her but she didn't comment and instead went back inside to start unpacking her things. Chloe set her small pack and damaged bow on a bottom bunk in the far corner of the room where she had noticed a small camp chest pushed under the bunk. The chest was empty but for a silver Hunter's jacket that had been left there so Chloe put all of her clothes and some of her other belongings into the chest (though she left the jacket at the bottom) and then pushed it back under her bed. Then she took her old bow and placed it on a set of hooks that protruded from the wall that were made to hang a bow and quiver. Finally she finished putting her things away and sat on the bed she had chosen and just looked around the cabin in a bit of a daze.

Not even a week ago she was an unclaimed camper and now she was sitting in a cabin most campers had never even seen the inside of. Which kind of spurred her to begin snooping. It wasn't really snooping since it was her cabin now after all but she still felt as if some kind of subtlety was required since this cabin was used by the Hunters when they were here. She began by going through all the trunks under the beds but most were empty aside from some stray arrows and candy wrappers. Nothing interesting there. She looked under all of the bunks and rugs just to see if there were any trap doors or a hidden staircase like in the Hephaestus cabin, but she was disappointed when she found nothing so she went to go lay back onto her bed when she noticed something close to her bunk from the corner of her eye. Mounted on the wall between the pelt of a white tiger and the head of what could have been a hellhound was a silver bow carved to look like a pair of gazelle horns. A quiver of arrows fletched with swan feathers hung beside it and Chloe couldn't help but go up to the weapon and run her hand over it.

Looking behind her as if she was afraid someone might come in and catch her doing something she shouldn't, she picked up the bow and strung it expertly. The weight of the bow was perfectly balanced and wasn't too heavy, in fact it was just the right weight and height for Chloe to use. Experimentally she drew the string, her hand level with her eye as she looked down the sight. Gently she lessened the tension on the string and used her now free hand to reach up and take the quiver off of the wall. She was sorely tempted to test the bow with the arrows but she didn't want to damage them. Instead she brought both the bow and the quiver over to her bed and as she sat down she set the bow beside her and pulled out one of the long silver arrows.

As she examined it and afterwards the elegantly made quiver, she noticed something stuck in the bottom after she had taken out all the arrows. Reaching into the quiver she managed to extract a small piece of paper that looked old and very worn. She turned over the paper and saw six words in neat writing there.

_For my daughter. Use it well_.

Chloe stared at the note for a full minute then slipped it back into the quiver before she put the arrows back in. She didn't put the weapons back on the wall, instead she hid them away in her trunk with her other belongings. She was happy that her mother had left something like that here for her. But she didn't want to be parading around the camp with a bow that greatly resembled Artemis's on her back. She'd never even spoken to her mother and many half-bloods were lucky if they got such a gift from their godly parent.

After a while Chloe pulled on her borrowed sword and left the cabin to go to the area where she could practise with the blade. Halfway there she came across Sophia and Sam talking quietly with one another. Sam seemed agitated and Sophia looked like she was trying to calm her but then they both spotted Chloe and they stopped talking all together. Sam looked down at her feet, refusing to look at Chloe and Sophia watched her for a moment then turned to Chloe.

"Heard you moved into the Artemis cabin today Knickers." She said and Chloe nodded but she was looking at Sam. Was she still upset with her for what had happened?

"Yeah... um, look guys I'm really sorry I worried you. I never meant to do such a thing and I hope you're not still made at me Sammy." Chloe said moving forward a bit. Sam didn't even look up at her but pulled her hand away when Chloe reached for her.

Chloe felt as if the action was like a slap to the face. She pulled back her hand and stared at Sam as if she hardly knew her. Surely Sam wasn't still mad, Chloe had seen Sam mad before, but she never stayed angry for long and never to the extent where an apology couldn't fix up the problem. Why was she being so cold? Sam finally looked up and glared at Chloe in a way they girl never thought possible but still she said nothing.

"Ah Chloe... now isn't really the best time." Sophia said glancing to Sam.

"No Sophia I want to know what's going on. Sam why won't you talk to me."

"I don't want to talk about it with you." Sam snapped and Chloe felt her temper flare.

"And why not! We're best friends Sam, you tell me everything!" She snapped back.

"We were best friends!" Sam shot back. "Then you... you had to go get claimed by Artemis of all people!"

"What does my being claimed have to do with anything!" Chloe asked incredulously. She was aware of a few other campers stopping to watch them squabble but none dared approach.

"It has to do with everything! You've been waiting to be claimed your whole life, and if it had been any other god everything would have been fine. But now you're going to go off with your mom and her hand maidens without a second thought to anyone you're going to leave behind." Sam all but yelled.

For a moment Chloe was at a loss of what to say. Was that what this was about? Sam thought that Chloe was going to go off and join Artemis's hunt without a second thought and leave all of her friends behind. Finally she spoke. "You're an idiot." She said. Crossing her arms over her chest. "An absolute idiot Sam, but go ahead and think whatever you want. I have practise to get to."

Sam looked dumbstruck; Chloe had never insulted her before. She was used to being insulted by some of the other campers but never Chloe or Sophia. Chloe stomped her foot and brushed past the daughter of Aphrodite. She was fuming and she didn't want to stand there and fight while half the camp watched as if they were some kind of sitcom.

When she arrived at the arena she went over to where the dummies were set up and pulled out her sword to hack at them. She didn't even bother practising specific moves; she just violently hacked and slashed, decapitating a dummy beside her, disembowelling the next in the line with a shout of rage. She turned to slice at the next dummy when her sword was met with more metal and strong resistance.

"What do you want?" She snapped at Nico who had a look on surprise on his face as if he had just reflexively blocked her sword, not expecting her to swing at him.

"If you keep swinging wildly around like that you're going to hurt someone, likely yourself." He stated when she had backed away and roughly sheathed the blade. She mumbled something under her breath and kicked at the straw under her feet. She knew she was acting unreasonable and rash, but she was just so angry, the last few days she had been nothing but a mess of ill favoured emotions and she had no idea why. Suddenly her dreams came back to her; the woman in the throne had said something about creating strife to start wars. And Chloe had just fallen into her trap. She felt the urge to punch a wall, now angry with herself, but resisted and released a breath of air.

"Sorry." She grumbled to Nico who had also sheathed his Stygian iron sword and was watching her warily as if she would blow up again. "I'm not usually so..." She paused searching for the right word to use.

"Irate, angry, emotional?" Nico supplied and she shot him a glare that quickly melted as she looked away.

"Yeah that."

"Want to talk about it?"

"Not really. Besides why would you want to sit and listen to me whine about my troubles?" She asked not intending to sound snappy because she was really just curious.

"True, that doesn`t seem to be very appealing. How about we spar instead." He suggested and motioned to the mutilated dummies. "Since you've exhausted your supply of mock opponents."

"As much as I would like to see your smug face eat dirt Di Angelo, I'd rather not. I don't need anything else to get mad about today." She replied.

Nico was quiet for a moment. "Is this about those dreams you were talking about?"

Somehow it didn't surprise her that he knew about her dreams. In fact she suspected her had listened to her whole conversation with Chiron and Percy the day before. So she just nodded.

"They got what they were looking for. Now they're going to start making everyone fight and they're pretty certain a war is going to break out." She said walking over to the bleachers and sitting down. Nico followed her but didn't sit.

"You had another one?" He asked and she nodded she didn't need to explain it any more than that. "Maybe you should go to see Rachel; she might be able to tell you what's going on."

His suggestion made sense and she had meant to talk to Rachel when she had first had the dreams and now that things were starting it seemed like as good a time as any to go see the resident Oracle. Chloe got to her feet and dusted off her shorts she would try to catch Rachel at lunch, which would be starting shortly according to her watch, and if that failed she'd go and wait for the red head in the Oracle's cave that she resided in while she was at the camp. Either way she would be getting information today.

Chloe looked for Rachel at lunch but the current Oracle was nowhere to be found in the dining pavilion so once everyone was done eating and on their way to afternoon activities Chloe made her way to the Oracle's cave which was situated in the middle of the woods. It had been Apollo's idea to have Rachel stay in a cave in the forest, which seemed utterly ridiculous but Apollo had tricked out the inside to look more like a wicked party room than the creepy cave that it appeared to be on the outside. That god seriously needed to get a hobby or something. At least Rachel seemed comfortable in her surroundings though.

Slowly, as if she were nervous (Which she was), Chloe walked into the cave half hoping that maybe Rachel wasn't there so she could just turn around and leave. She wasn't entirely sure she really wanted answers to her dreams and was hoping they were just dreams. However Rachel was in the cave and she looked up from the magazine she had been reading when she heard Chloe enter.

"Chloe what brings you here?" Rachel asked setting the book aside and motioned for the other girl to sit.

Chloe didn't move as she looked around the room. It was the first time she had ever been in the cave and somehow she wasn't really surprised to see that there were art supplies littering the entire area. It should have looked messy, had the area not been so large. It seemed to suit Rachel's personality perfectly. Eventually Chloe looked back to Rachel who was waiting quietly for the other girl to speak.

"Sorry Rachel. I came to ask you a couple questions about some dreams I've been having." She said shuffling her feet nervously. She knew the offer to sit was still open but she preferred to stand.

"What kind of dreams? You have to be more specific."Rachel said with a wave of her hand.

Chloe pursed her lips then finally sat in a squishy beanbag chain and proceeded to once again explain her dreams in more detail to Rachel who listened to her intently as she spoke. That was one thing Chloe liked about Rachel, she was a good listener. There had been times when Chloe had gone into the woods with various issues on her mind and wound up sitting with Rachel just talking for hours. Rachel never seemed to mind and hadn't said anything to dismiss that idea.

"Well that certainly is a bit concerning. I can see why you're so worried about it." Rachel said tucking her legs under her as she tried to get comfortable in her seat. "I don't really know what to tell you though. Something obviously had to be done about it but I can't hand out permission to go on quests. The gods might have to deal with this one on their own since Mr. D is away."

"But that's just the thing they can't handle it on their own. They're all too busy fighting about Artemis spontaneously having a kid." Chloe sighed.

"I would give you a prophesy if I could Chloe, that way you or someone else could go on a quest to solve this. But I don't decide when to give them. They just sort of come. But tell you what, if nothing is done about this soon I'll contact Apollo to see if we can do anything."

It was better than nothing, but not exactly what Chloe was looking for. She had no desire to go on a quest but she would have liked to hear that someone could have done something to help the situation. She thanked Rachel then got up to leave.

"Hey. Don't worry so much, I'll see you at the campfire later." Rachel said as she waved to Chloe as she left.

Chloe did see Rachel at the campfire, though not in the way she expected. It had started out as a relatively normal campfire, aside from the fact that Chloe was alienated from her two best friends who were sitting on the opposite side of the fire. She opted to sit with Connor and some of the other Hermes campers instead. Travis was absent from their group though, he had decided to sit with his girlfriend Katie, a pretty daughter of Demeter, instead.

The Apollo campers had just finished another song when Rachel stood suddenly from where she was sitting with Annabeth, Percy and Nico. The entire area went quiet as the familiar green mist of the Oracle spread around the fire. Everyone knew what was coming, it was rare that a Prophesy came in front of a group of people but now that it was coming no one was going to ignore it.

_You shall go without fail to source of Discord_

_Daughter of moon and son of the dead's Lord_

_Together travel past realms of death and beyond_

_Through strife and toil forge an unbreakable bond_

_Beware young heroes of the serpent queen's feast_

_Escape quickly to have Harmony from her prison released._

As soon as the last word left Rachel's mouth the eerie green mist faded and Rachel's eyes cleared as she came back to herself. She blinked and looked around, realizing what had just happened.

Everyone was still quiet and Chloe felt various people look at her where she sat near the fire with the marshmallow she had been roasting on flames at the end of her stick. She must have looked entirely stupid sitting there with a burning ball of goo dripping into the fire. But it wasn't only her people were looking at; they were staring at Nico too. The prophesy had been pretty clear that it would be those two heading out on a quest together.

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><p><strong>Dun Dun DUHHHHHHH. <strong>

**I seriously need to sleep. I've been awake going on 24 hours, but I suppose that's what happens when you work the graveyard shift at the local coffee shop which just HAS to be open 24/7. Not that I'm complaining. I like working nights better than days. There are less crazy people to bug me. **

**Moving on! I would like to thank everyone viewing this story and if any of you have favorited or alerted it I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.**

** Unfortunately for some reason I can't tell who might have added Unbreakable to their faves or alerts because my Fanfiction account hates me and won't notify me of when people have done so. I don't even get reviews in my private messaging inbox and nothing is sent to my email (Even stories I have alerted myself to, I have to check them manually.) So yeah thanks to those guys who have done so and big thanks to anon for reviewing(again I had to go into my story page and manually check the reviews).**

**The next chapter may not come out for a little bit. Maybe like two weeks instead of one. I've been really busy lately and Chapter 4 isn't coming out the way I want it too. not to mention I have three other stories on the go... only one of which is posted right now. Anyway. Two weeks at the latest guys. Maybe sooner if you love me lots and review!**

**~Peter  
><strong>


	4. Departure

**Holy Hera!~ I'm so sorry I didn't update on Tuesday like I normally do! I was stuck on what to do with this chapter until an idea hit me while I was watching 'The Chronicles of Narnia' earlier. Actually I'm still watching it... or at least the third movie. I wrote this entire chapter while I watched the first and second. XD. Nothing says inspiration like a giant all knowing lion and four dysfunctional kids. Anyway it's finally here so be happy already!**

**Disclaimer: I unfortunately don't own PJATO. If I did there would be more Nico love. And dragons, everyone loves dragons so long as they're not eating you. Sadly there are no dragons in this story either. For some reason I've had a strange fixation on snakes through this series. Oh well. Enjoy!**

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><p>Chapter 4<p>

Somehow Chiron managed to get the sing along going again and at the same time extract Nico and Chloe from the mass of campers that surrounded them. He led the two away from the others and only stopped when they were well out of hearing range.

"Chiron what-"Chloe began to speak but then saw the look on Chiron's face and stopped midsentence.

"I had hoped that we could at least wait until Mr. D got back before we sought a quest." He sighed "But it seems we have no choice in the matter."

"You're actually letting us go?" Nico asked raising an eyebrow.

"It is unlikely that I could stop you if I wanted to Nico, and Chloe you are too stubborn to let this drop so yes, against normal camp policy I am going to let you go. Usually we would wait for Mr. D to give the go ahead but I sense that we have little time left for you to accomplish what you need to." Chiron said.

"Which would be what?" Chloe asked.

"That is for you to figure out. Now both of you get some rest for tonight, we'll send you off first thing in the morning so make sure you are ready."

It was futile to argue so the two half-bloods agreed and headed back toward the cabin area while Chiron went back to the camp fire to make sure things were settled there. They didn't talk as they walked back side by side. There really was nothing to say and Chloe was absorbed with the lines of the prophesy anyway. She was trying to figure out what it all meant. Obviously they had to save someone from 'the source of discord', that had to be the woman in the throne room she had seen in her dreams. But if that was the case they had even less time than she had hoped. The woman had said the world would be thrown into chaos by the end of the week. That was five days from now, not including tonight.

She stopped walking abruptly with a frown on her face. Nico noticed her stop and glanced back at her. "What do you think it meant... past lands of death and beyond?" She asked "I know the underworld is the land of the dead, that's obvious. But is there anything beyond the underworld?"

"I don't know. It could mean some place anywhere in the underworld. We could ask my dad, he might know."

"Shouldn't he be up on Olympus squabbling with the other gods?" She wondered out loud with a bland expression on her face.

"It's unlikely, he doesn't leave the underworld much. He wouldn't consider something trivial like Artemis having a daughter reason to visit his already dysfunctional family... no offence."

"None taken. I kind of agree." She shrugged. Though she really wasn't sure she wanted to be visiting the Lord of the Dead. Going to the underworld would be unpleasant enough, if what she heard about it was anything to go by, she didn't want to intrude upon Hades' palace when some minor god was spreading conflict through the world trying to start wars and get people killed.

"Look we should probably pack what we need and get some sleep. We'll likely need it."

"Yeah right... well... night then." She said feeling a bit awkward as she turned to go back to her cabin which now luminously glowed under the light of the moon.

She packed some things she considered to be necessary for the quest into her duffle bag. A couple changes of clothes went in first followed by a small bag of drachmas that she figured would come in handy. The last to go in was the Hunter's coat from the bottom of her trunk, she wasn't sure she should be taking such a thing, it wasn't hers after all, but she figured it would be cold in the underworld and her old winter jacket was in dire need of a replacement.

When she was done packing her things she extinguished the brazier in the center of the room and lay back on her bed staring at the underside of the bunk above her. There was light in the room due to the glowing stars on the ceiling and the moon light was very nearly full giving the room a dim glow. The light, which mirrored the phases of the moon as Chloe expected, would be full soon. Probably within the week, if not at the end of it. Five days to be exact, the same amount of time she would have to save the world.

Holy Hera, how could she be expected to save the world within five days? That was like asking her to climb mount Everest in an hour, there was no way she could do it, no way anyone could do it. Sure Percy had managed to save the world in less time... more than once in fact. But she wasn't Percy; she wasn't a child of the Big Three. She was Chloe... the sole child of Artemis who had no idea what kind of powers she had aside from her ability with a bow and knives.

Chloe rolled onto her stomach and buried her face into her pillow to block out the light from the painted stars and moon. She needed sleep. But sleep would not come to her. She tossed and turned the whole night, long after she had heard the other campers head for bed she was still awake, thoughts running through her head.

~O~

It wasn't until the early morning hours that she finally managed to doze off into an uneasy sleep but even that didn't last very long. All too soon a knock came at the door with a call to wake up. Chloe groaned and rolled over onto her side pillow over her head to block out the noise and the light. If she had taken the pillow off her head she might have heard the door creak open then she might have been prepared for when her blankets were harshly pulled away.

Eyes snapping open when she felt a cold hand on her ankle, Chloe kicked out viciously, sending whoever had grabbed her stumbling across the room. In seconds Chloe was sitting up in a crouching position ready to defend herself from any rouge Hermes campers as she had temporarily forgotten where she was. After a moment, when she had gathered her bearings, she looked around to see who she had kicked.

"What is your problem with hitting and kicking me in the stomach?" Nico groaned from the floor.

"What in Hades! Nico how did you get in here! There's a charm around the door to keep boys out!" Chloe exclaimed as she jumped from her bed to help Nico off of the floor.

Once he was sitting, still holding his stomach from the blow her foot had given him, he looked up at her from under his dark eyelashes. "Chiron sent me to get you. I knocked but you weren't answering." He said.

"That doesn't explain how you go in here without being turned into a fluffy bunny!" She threw her hand up in the air in exasperation.

"Oh that. I knew about the charm, instead of coming through the door I shadow traveled in. I didn't know if it would work or not. Glad I don't have a cotton tail though."

Chloe couldn't help but grin at that one and stuck her hand out to help him off of the floor. He took it and she heaved him to his feet. When he was standing Chloe had to take a step back, realizing how close he was and abruptly let go of his hand.

"I heard the door open." She muttered looking towards the still open door.

"Yeah I had to open it to get a good look at the cabin before I traveled in. I didn't want to take another unfortunate trip to China."

Chloe vaguely wondered how he had managed to send himself to China but decided that that was a story for another time."Alright well I'm up."

"Good lets go."Nico said motioning to the door.

"Nuh uh, not so fast Houdini. I still have to get ready. I'm not walking out of here in my pyjamas." Chloe said putting her hands on her hips intimidating. Nico looked at what she was wearing and for a moment she could have sworn she was the boy's face turn red but then he turned away and cleared his throat.

"Right sorry. You get ready, I'll meet you by Thalia's tree with Chiron and the rest." He said stepping into a shadow created in the corner and when Chloe blinked he was gone.

She huffed and marched over to the door to close it lest anyone else decide to try to barge in on her and quickly got ready. Donning her clothes and the bow and quiver left for her by her mother she pulled up her copper colored hair and glanced at herself in the mirror that was in the bathroom after she had splashed her face to get rid of the last of the sleepiness from her. Her face was drawn and tired, she looked terrified and she was if the clenching in her stomach was anything to go by. She wished she could look calm and ready to take on this challenge. But the reality was that she wasn't and yet she couldn't back out of this either. Everyone was counting on her to fulfil the prophesy.

Taking a deep breath she left the bathroom, grabbed her bag and then shut the cabin door behind her. She knew... hoped she would be back soon but the click of the door sounded so definite that she had the urge to make sure it would open for her again. She didn't, she turned her back on the cabin and made her way through the camp.

Everything was quiet, the campers were not yet awake, even the sky was not very light, but it was for the best that they leave early. That way a commotion was not made by their departure. Chloe walked slowly, taking in everything. She had lived her whole life here and now for the first time other than a solstice she was leaving. It felt strange, and all too soon she was beside Thalia's tree with Chiron the head counselors, and Nico.

She noticed Chiron and Annabeth, as well as some of the others eye the bow and quiver she brought, some with surprise others curiosity but none spoke of it. For that at least she was grateful, she did not want to explain anything to anyone.

"Argus will take you into the city; discuss your course of action on the way. It is clear you will have to go to the underworld in order to finish this quest. It may be best to start there." Chiron said looking down at the two demigods who stood side by side. Nico looked cool and composed Chloe was fidgeting with her bag and quiver doing her best not to meet anyone's eyes.

"If that's the case we should head for the door of Orpheus, it's the closest entrance to the underworld." Nico said sharing a nod with Percy. The two had been that way before, hopefully it was still there.

"Be careful you two. Let's see you come back so we don't have to burn any shrouds" Annabeth said giving both a brief hug. Nico coughed when he was let go and Chloe stood frozen like a statue. She understood why Nico got a hug, he and Annabeth were friends but she did not understand why she had been hugged until the blonde girl whispered in her ear. "Make sure he doesn't do anything too stupid."

Chloe choked out a laugh which earned the two strange glances from everyone else and a venomous glare from Clarisse who obviously thought that they should be taking this quest seriously and not laughing about it. They said farewell and Chloe was about to hop into the camp van after Nico when someone called to her. She shifted slightly to look over her shoulder and was both relieved and a bit disappointed to see Sophia there. She did not fail to notice that Sam was nowhere in sight.

"I'm glad I caught you before you left." Sophia said panting slightly. She had run all the way here from her cabin after spending an all-nighter if the bags under her eyes were anything to go by. "I spent the last week making these for you, stayed up last night to finish, figured you would need them for what you're about to do."

She pulled out a box from behind her back and handed it to Chloe who was aware that everyone was staring at them. She took the box and opened it to reveal two celestial bronze hunting knives sitting on red velvet. They were a beautiful piece of work, the handles made of a different material than the blade but just a lethal looking, it almost looked as if Sophia had stolen a few scales from Clarisse's Draken hide. Chloe smiled and ran a hand over the detailing which depicted the faces of different animal and shut the case. She threw herself at Sophia and wrapped her in a tight hug which was gladly returned.

"Don't go getting yourself killed Knickers. We want you back in one piece." She said into her ear. Chloe nodded not failing to notice that her friend had said **we** and not **me**. She knew Sophia did not mean any of the campers standing there with them, but Sam.

"I'll be back before you can say hippocampus." She said withdrawing from the hug and going to sit in the van. She waved to everyone as the door shut and as she looked out she saw Sophia waving and mouth the word 'hippocampus' to her. She wanted to laugh and cry at the same time but held it in. Now was the time for her to swallow her fear and be the fighter she was trained to be and was before on the battlefield during the wars.

"So this door... Where exactly is it?" she asked turning to Nico once they were on the road.

"New York." He answered shortly. "I asked Argus to just take us as far as the city. I can Shadow Travel the both of us to Central park from there."

Chloe simply nodded. She wasn't sure how she felt about Shadow Travel. She had never done anything like it before but stories went around that Percy had before and that it had not been a pleasant experience. Then again she was never one to believe gossip so she would just have to wait to see how it was before she formed an opinion.

"You know you should calm down a bit, you'll be no help in the underworld if you're anxious. There are things there that feed on your fears." He said, his dark eyes turned to her and she felt her face go red from both anger and embarrassment.

"I'm calm." She said pulling her face into a neutral expression as best she could. She wasn't very good at hiding her emotions she was often told by her friends that she wore her heart on her sleeve. So she didn't expect that she would be successful and she was entirely right.

"I'm serious Chloe." He looked her straight in the face and this time she blushed for an entirely different reason, one she couldn't really place. "It's just a quest. People go on them all the time and come back completely fine. It's simple we go to the underworld ask my dad where to go, we go we free whoever needs freeing and we're done."

Oh but things were rarely that easy. And he did forget to mention the few times campers did not return from quests and funeral rights were performed for them, shrouds burned and campers silently mourning their loss. Chloe shook those thoughts from her head and looked down at her hands which hung near her legs. "Yeah, I know." She said quietly. She knew she shouldn't be worrying, worrying just caused her to lose sight of what needed to be done so she pulled on her reserves of courage and took a deep breath.

They did not speak for the remainder of the trip, but sat in a comfortable silence. Chloe rummaged through her bag and pulled out a bag of trail mix to munch on, she hadn't eaten breakfast and she had been grateful when Chiron had given the two of them some extra food as well as Nectar squares and a thermos of Ambrosia. She offered some to Nico silently and together the two of them had polished off the bag by the time they had reached the outskirts of the nearest city.

They bid farewell to Argus who wished them luck in his own silent way then drove off leaving the two of them surrounded by a mass of towering concrete buildings.

"Cities always made me uncomfortable. There aren't enough trees." Chloe said looking around trying to find any source of greenery in the vicinity. Some trees lined the streets evenly spaced apart from each other in small cramped boxes that surely did nothing to contain the roots. She felt bad for the plants that were here, they could not grow as they wanted and there was hardly any wildlife here aside from the birds that sat on the sides of the buildings watching them.

"Figures you would say that. The other campers told me you practically lived in the woods." Nico said waving to her so she would follow him down the street.

"What are you a stalker?" She asked wondering what kind of conversation he would be having with people that would lead to her being in the woods.

"When you're rescued by a girl in the middle of the woods who has the gall to punch you out you tend to be curious." Nico said with a shrug as if it wasn't weird at all.

Chloe pursed her lips and crossed her arms over her chest as she walked. She understood his curiosity, she would have been too. But she wasn't sure how she felt about people talking about her and telling people she hardly knew how she liked to spend her time. She'd let it go... just this once, and only because she knew that Nico would probably save her life more than once on this quest as she knew very little about the underworld.

"So where are we going?" Chloe after was seemed like at least twenty minutes of walking. There was no way that they were just wandering for the sake of it. There had to be a reason.

"I'm going to visit Percy's mom." He replied. "There's something I need to pick up there."

Now Chloe was definitely confused, what would Percy's mom have that Nico needed. She was just a mortal wasn't she? Well she'd find out soon enough she supposed since Nico had just turned and walked up to a quaint little home. The mailbox displayed the name 'Blofis' and Chloe wondered if thios really was the right place. Wasn't Percy's last name 'Jackson'? Then again hadn't his mother gotten remarried a few years ago? She was sure she had heard some of the campers talking about it at the time.

Nico walked right up to the door and knocked on it then stuck his hands into the pockets of his dark jeans. Chloe had to admit he looked pretty cool like that. After a few seconds there was some noise from the house and the door opened up to reveal a tall man with laugh lines on his face. He seemed kind enough. He looked at Nico, clearly surprised and then to Chloe who stood slightly behind him then back. There were gears working in his head she could almost see it.

"Hello Nico, it's been a while." The man said at last and a small smile warmed his face.

"Hey Paul, is Sally home. I need to ask her a favor." Nico said sounding casual. Chloe absently wondered how often he was at this house to be able to call them by their first names.

"She's just in the back room painting. Come inside while I go get her." He motioned for the two to come in and once they were over the threshold, closed the door behind them. The moment they stepped into the house Chloe felt at home. She took off her sneakers and followed Nico to the living room which was painted a calming light blue color and there were plants everywhere. Small trees and flowers in the window boxes, a few hanging plants.

"By the way," Paul said getting her attention. She turned and found him standing close while he looked at her. "I'm Paul Blofis, I don't believe we've met."

"Oh um... I'm Chloe... Theron." She said taking his outstretched hand to shake it. She had to make up the last part of her name, she'd never been told if she had a surname so she had chosen a name that kept her close to her mother. The name meant 'Hunter' in Greek. She had sometimes heard it used when people referred to her mother in old history books sometimes.

"Nice to meet you Chloe Theron." Paul said giving her the same smile he had given Nico. "I'll go get Sally. So sit down and relax for a bit."

Chloe did as she was told and sat down on the blue-green colored sofa while Nico took up the chair across from her. It wasn't long until they heard footsteps approaching the room again and this time Paul was with a pretty lady blue eyes who had her brown hair tied back haphazardously as if she had been in the middle of doing something. She went right over to Nico and pulled him into a crushing hug.

"Nico! It's been too long. How are you dear, would you like something to eat?"

"No thanks Sally, I'm fine." Nico said with a small smile on his face when the older woman released him. That was when she turned to Chloe who froze like a deer in headlights. She had been fidgeting nervously the whole time.

"And who's this?" She asked sending Nico a look that wasn't hard to interpret. It caused both teenagers to go red in the face.

"C-Chloe Ms.. ummm" She didn't know if she still went by Jackson or by Blofis.

"Just call me Sally dear. It's nice to meet you, it's rare Nico shows up here these days, even rarer that he brings a girl along and by that I mean never." Sally said with a laugh. If possible Chloe felt her face go even more red.

"Um... I'm not sure why you think he brought me here but we actually came because we're on a quest." She said looking at her feet and shuffling them awkwardly. She almost knew if she looked up she would see Sally frowning at her.

"Really? Well what is it you need kids? I'm always happy to help friends of Percy's." She said

"Well I was wondering if we could borrow Mrs. O'Leary for a bit. We need to travel to New York in as little time as we can and I don't have much practise Shadow Traveling with an extra person." Nico explained. At this Chloe did look up. Mrs. O'Leary was a Hellhound that Percy took care of after her original owner had died. She hadn't seen the hound at camp lately; it appeared she had been here the whole time.

"I'm sure Percy wouldn't mind." Sally said with a light smile. "But why on earth are you going to New York?"

"We're heading to the underworld to find something. Don't worry it's totally safe." Nico said and Chloe felt as if he was flat out lying just to make sure this woman didn't worry. Going to the underworld was far from safe for someone who had never been there, and even for people who had been. Sally pursed her lips but said nothing about what Nico told her.

"Alright. Mrs. O'Leary is in the back yard. You two be careful okay?" She said watching the two as they stood to leave.

"We will." Nico said and once again motioned for Chloe to follow.

Chloe smiled to the woman and gave a small wave and a "Thanks" before she followed Nico down the hall and out the back door to a medium sized back yard. There was a small tree there and in the shade of it was the biggest dog that was possibly in the mortal realm.

Mrs. O'Leary lifted her head and barked at them as she got up and bounded over. Chloe stood frozen in place. She had always been wary of the Hellhound and now she was required to ride one through a shadow to get to New York. Oh Nico so owed her for this.

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><p>Whew *wipes brow* That one was a bit longer than the others by like a page and a half, not a whole lot I know but still I just couldn't stop when I got going.<p>

Right, so I want to address a few things here the first of which being how Nico got into the Artemis Cabin. I know I said boys couldn't enter, but that situation was calling to me. I could totally see it happening and I even laughed a bit when I wrote it cause hey, even though we all love Nico, it's just too easy to beat him up.

Second I'm sorry if anyone seems a bit out of character. It's been almost a year since I last read through all of the books so i keep having to go back and check things every once in a while. So if I got anything wrong let me know.

And third MRS. O'LEARY! I HAD to add her in here along with Sally and Paul. I simply love them. I wanted to make sure they appeared somewhere and this just fit too well in my head so I hope you like that I managed to get them in there as well as embarrass Nico and Chloe a bit. I found that fun.

Shout out to anon andDragonine09 for reviewing. Thank to anyone else who has Faved or Alerted. It means a lot to me that you guys are reading this and hopefully liking it? Remember reviews mean love and cookies!

~Peter


	5. Underworld

**Chapter 5! YAY!~ God... I should stop updating as soon as I finish these chapters. You guys are lucky that I have little self control when it comes to updating(The writing part not so much it usually takes me a few days to write chapters but this is the second one I've put up in three days... and that's only for this story). ANYWAY!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own PJATO. I would put something witty here but my brain is a little fried from watching Happy Feet three times today. So umm... yeah. ONWARDS**

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><p>Chapter 5<p>

Chloe didn't dare move a muscle as the enormous black hellhound bounded over to them delivering a big slobbery lick to Nico's face before it noticed her and with a bark tackled her to the ground and began licking her face all over. She shrieked and tried to push the dog off but it was much too big. Somewhere in the background she could hear Nico laughing at her misfortune and she made a mental note to hit him for it later.

After some fighting Chloe managed to push the dog off, though not before she was majorly slobbered on. Mrs. O'Leary backed up and sat with a thump as Chloe wiped dog drool off of her face with the sleeve of her shirt and sent Nico an absolutely foul look. He was still off to the side snickering and trying to look like he wasn't enjoying her pain.

"Ugh... you wait Di Angelo. You'll get yours." She warned wiping more dog spittle away.

Nico laughed some more and held out a hand for her to take so she could get up off of the ground. "You know usually she doesn't take to people so well. You must be special."

Chloe glared he was still teasing her but she took his hand anyway and allowed him to pull her to her feet. "I feel so lucky." She grumbled and wiped her slobbery hand on her jeans. She was tempted to wipe it on him, in fact she almost did, but then she remembered that he was the one who was responsible for keeping her safe while she shadow traveled on this monster of a dog and decided not to.

"Alright so let's get going I think we've wasted enough daylight." Nico said once he was finished laughing at her.

"You're the one who wanted to get the dog." Chloe grumbled as she walked up to Mrs. O'Leary who looked ready to slobber all over her again.

"Okay Mrs. O'Leary, take Chloe to Central Park in New York." He told the dog as Chloe climbed onto her back and held onto her collar for dear life. He then turned to Chloe. "Hold on and don't let go, it feels a bit weird but it's over quickly."

"Why do I have the feeling I'm going to regret THIIIISSS" She shouted the last word as Mrs. O'Leary shot forward and leapt into the shade of the tree. For a split second Chloe thought they were going to barrel right into the tree but instead they passed right through it into a dark space. The hellhound kept running her pace seeming to get faster and faster until Chloe felt the air leave her lungs and she could almost feel like her skin was peeling off. Then suddenly they were out of the darkness and back out in the open.

Mrs. O'Leary stopped as soon as they were free of the shadow and flopped to the ground, sending Chloe tumbling to the earth. She lay there on her back, panting as she tried to regain her breath. There was noise nearby and Chloe looked up to see Nico step out of the same shadow she and the Mrs. O'Leary had just exited. He looked a little tired from the effort but no worse for wear.

"Why are you lying on the ground?" He asked when he noticed her sitting there next to hellhound who was looking at him with her big droopy eyes.

Chloe turned her head as he approached so she was looking at him upside down. "You could have warned me before sending me off like that!" She accused

"I told you to hold on didn't I?" He replied looking down at her as a smug smile crossed his face.

Chloe growled at him and stood up, dusting herself off. She had been getting some odd looks from the mortals in the area and she couldn't figure out if it was because she was on the ground or if it was because of what the mist made it look like she was doing. For all she knew they thought Mrs. O'Leary was a horse.

"Come on we're getting weird looks." She grumbled grabbing his arm as she strode past him. They would have to leave Mrs. O'Leary behind because currently the enormous hellhound was snoozing fitfully under the shade of a tree.

"You mean you're getting weird looks." He corrected her. "And you know you're going the wrong way. The Door of Orpheus is at the south end of the park."

Chloe stopped abruptly her hand still around Nico's arm. She didn't dare turn to look at him because she just knew that smug smile of his would be on his face. And why was he allowed to be so happy and smug anyway? Where did he get off being able to act like he knew it all and be so good looking at the same time? Wait a second.

The demigod girl growled and turned back, her face flushing but she refused to look at him as she stomped past Mrs. O'Leary. "You know if you're the one who knows where the door is why are you letting me lead?" She asked as the thought struck her.

"You seemed to be doing pretty well on your own." He replied

"You're letting a girl who knows absolutely nothing about the layout of the Underworld lead you there? Yeah that sounds about right." Chloe said under her breath. She let go of his arm and motioned for him to get into the lead. She had no idea where this door was, he would have to show her to it. Eventually Nico lead her to a cluster of boulders just north of the large pond.

Chloe tried to be open minded about the whole thing. But all she could see was a pile of rocks, there was no way that this was the door Nico was talking about. Shouldn't it have been bigger? Or fancier or something?

"This is it?" She asked incredulously.

"You know, Percy had the exact same reaction when I showed him here." Nico said putting a hand on a nearby rock and leaning against it.

"I can see why." She replied dryly. "So how do we get in?"

"We need music."

"Of course it's never easy. I'm fresh out of musical instruments... and talent." She sighed.

"Well I'm not singing."Nico said eyeing her carefully. "Besides I'm sure your voice isn't that bad."

She wasn't sure whether to take his remark as a compliment or not so she kept her mouth shut and folded her arms over her chest. She tried to think of how to get the door to open because there was no way she was singing in front of him, just the thought made her cheeks burn because she knew he would laugh. She wasn't very good at all.

Pursing her lips she exhaled and suddenly an idea clicked in her head. Pursing her lips more she whistled to the rocks. A smile lit up her face when they trembled.

"What are you doing?" Nico asked watching her warily.

"Whistling." She replied and began whistling something that sounded like a very out of tune version of 'Baba Black Sheep'. However even though her music skills were grossly out of tune the rocks trembled again and soon they cracked open, revealing a triangular shaped door.

"You know I was hoping you would have had to sing but upon hearing you whistle I'm glad you didn't" Nico said moving towards the rocks. Chloe punched him in the arm as he got to the steps leading down into the earth and would have glowered at him had the light not been blocked out as soon as she stepped into the tunnel. The doors had closed behind them.

The tunnel was a tight fit and the stairs downwards seemed to go on forever. There were a couple of times Chloe slipped on what could have been water or moss but she never bent down to check out what it was for sure. There were even a few times Nico had to catch her before she went crashing into him and sending them both crashing down the stairs. After the second time this happened she was obliged to apologize for hitting him earlier.

The further down they went the more Chloe wanted to turn around and bolt back up the stairs. This place smelled of death and worse felt like it. Why had she agreed to this? Oh yeah, the fate of the world was in her sweaty, clammy hands which were clutching her bow tightly to her chest. There was little light too which made it all the more worse because she could hardly see the outline of Nico's head in front of her.

After what seemed like an eternity Chloe thought she heard running water and soon the two Demigods were out of the tunnel and on what appeared to be a beach. To their right what a large river that Chloe knew better than to go near. Any of the rivers in the Underworld were bad news in her books, especially if one were to fall into them. To their left was a great black wall that Chloe took to be Erebos, the walls of Hades's kingdom. She'd read about it in a book she had borrowed from the Athena campers.

"Come on. We're going to have to go to the palace to talk to my dad." Nico motioned her forward from where she had stopped and she quickly followed him. This place made her uneasy and by the look on Nico's face it even made him nervous and he practically lived here!

Silently the two passed through the gates where Chloe had her first good look at Cerberus who watched her intently with one of his heads all the while growling and sniffing in her direction. She nearly fainted and took a hold of Nico's arm. She really didn't care if he cared about the circulation in his arm being cut off by her vice like hold, she just didn't want to be dog chow.

Even when they passed the gates Chloe didn't dare let go of Nico as they walked over the black looking fields beyond. She did lessen her grip and noticed Nico glance to her from the corner of his eye. In the distance she could see what she could only assume to be Hades's palace. They walked for what seemed like hours, and it probably was but since there was no sky or sun to give them a general idea of the time there was really no way to tell for sure. Finally though they reached the palace.

Skeletal men were guarding the entrance to what looked like a garden and Chloe could feel their nonexistent eyes burning holes into her as they passed through the arch. The garden they stepped into was almost pretty. Where gardens usually had flowers and leafy plants this one was filled with bare trees, plants that were more metal than leaf and gemstones of every color. Maybe it was just her or maybe it was the fact that she was the daughter of the goddess of the wilderness , but she would have much preferred it if the plants were actual plants. But then again, would daisies and rosebushes grow down here?

At the head of the garden Chloe noticed two thrones but she did not pay these chairs as much attention as she did to the people sitting on them. One she recognized because she had seen the goddess of spring once before many years ago as a child and the other could only be Hades. If she did not know him by the fact that he sat on a throne of bones or the garb of tormented souls he wore then she definitely knew him by the familial resemblance he shared with Nico.

The two gods seemed to be discussing something in an undertone when they looked up and saw the two teenagers there. Chloe noticed that Persephone's eyes immediately locked onto where the demigod girl held Nico's arm and she dropped her hand to her side and looked away as if she were keenly examining a large flower that was made of emeralds that was next to her. What was Persephone doing in the Underworld anyway, wasn't it summer?

"Father." Nico said and Chloe heard some movement as if he had bowed to his father. Chloe chanced a glance up and noticed the god of the dead staring at her with his unnerving black eyes and she quickly dipped her head to show respect.

"Lord Hades." She said her voice cracking a little from fear.

"Nico, why have you disrupted us without announcing that you were coming?" Hades asked in a bored tone. "And who is this girl?"

Chloe opened her mouth as if she was going to answer for herself but a sharp look from Nico made her shut her mouth.

"Father this is Chloe, daughter of Artemis. We've come here on a quest together to find something that is in or beyond the Underworld." He said and Chloe nodded in agreement.

At this new information Hades seemed intrigued, if only a little because now he was looking at Chloe with more interest than he had before. There was something calculating in his gaze that she just didn't like. "So this is the daughter Artemis hid away all these years. She doesn't look like much, maybe that's why Artemis said nothing about her."

Chloe felt heat on her face and she bristled angrily. He may have been the lord of the Underworld but that didn't give him the right to act as if she was scum beneath him. Her hand twitched towards her arrows but she caught herself and clenched her fist beside her instead.

_This is what they want_ she reminded herself _They want us to get mad and start fighting. Besides Hades is a god, he could turn you into a piece of pocket lint if he wanted to._

"Lord Hades, with all due respect, I don't think it's fair that you judge me before you know what I'm capable of." She said through clenched teeth. Nico glanced at her again but she ignored him.

Hades stared at her coldly and Chloe felt her gut clench in fear but she held her ground though she was sure her skin tone went three shades whiter. She didn't even dare breath, especially not when the god stood so he was looking down on her.

"Hades don't be so judgemental. The girl obviously has some skills if she's been sent here for a quest." Persephone said soothingly and Chloe felt relief flood through her when Hades looked away from her and sat down again with a slight grumble. She breathed out and sent a glance to Nico who also looked relieved.

"Fine. What is it you children need?" Hades asked looking for all the world like a petulant child. Chloe made a mental note that if she were to ever deal with another god to make sure his wife was on her side before she spoke out against them.

"Well the prophesy said something about the realms of the dead and beyond, also a serpent queen and Harmony." Nico explained. "Basically someone is trying to start a war and we have to save someone to stop it."

"And why should I care if a war breaks out?" Hades asked.

"Because if people start dying the Underworld will be even more crowded." Chloe pointed out. "Besides it's not just a war that's going to affect mortals, whoever is behind this is going after the gods as well. Spreading discord everywhere seems to be her intent."

"Sounds like something Eris would do." Persephone spoke up as she looked at the black sky thoughtfully. "As for Harmony, she takes up residency in the Isles of the Blessed."

Chloe felt like smacking herself in the face at the obviousness of it all. How had she not seen that. Eris was the goddess of strife and discord. Harmony was the goddess of, well, harmony. If Eris were to kidnap Harmony and start making people mad it would be a simple matter to start a war amongst every living thing in the world.

"Is there any way we can get to the Isles to see if Harmony is still there?" She asked after a moment then added. "You know without having to go through the whole three cycles of rebirth thing? We're on a tight schedule."

"I suppose I could allow the two of you access." Hades said thoughtfully as he stroked his beard. "But only if you do something for me first."

Chloe groaned and she heard Nico make a similar noise beside her. "Father can't you just help us this once. We have a week until Eris decides to cause World War III."

"Please?" Chloe added with her best pleading look that she had learned from Sam hoping it would work.

Hades growled at the two and they shared a look and each took a step back. Okay so maybe asking a god for leniency was a bad idea. After Hades was sure they wouldn't protest more he leaned back again and folded his hands together in front of him.

"If you're smart this won't take you long." He said calmly. "Now I'm sure you two have heard of the Ceryneian Hind."

Chloe felt her stomach drop along with her jaw. The Ceryneian Hind was supposed to be one of the fastest animals alive. It took Hercules a year to catch it and, oh yeah, it was her mother's sacred animal. What did Hades want with an animal like that?

"You see Hermes thought it would be amusing to take my master key, The one that allows me access to anywhere in the Underworld, and tie it to the Hind's neck. Now I don't really need the key, but since you do, you'll have to find the deer and catch it." Hades said with a dismissive wave of his hand. The two gods disappeared from their thrones and Chloe turned to Nico with a slight look of panic.

"We're so doomed." She told him.

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><p>Man the part where they meet Hades and Persephone was supposed to be way different than this but I like how this flows better. Originally Chloe wasn't supposed to talk back to Hades, Nico was supposed to do all the talking. But hey Chloe is not going to be basically called useless and hold her tongue. Especially not when Eris's influence is getting to her. It isn't affecting other people as much yet but don't worry it will. Bwahahaha.<p>

Big thanks to anon and HogwartsHeadGirl21 for reviewing. I love reviews they make me happy and o stupid things like spend all day writing new chapters and posting them off schedule... yeah so now you know my weakness!

~Peter


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